Doppelganger
by pottermum
Summary: George is throwing a Halloween costume party. Harry arrived late and can't find Ginny. But he does find someone else. Precautionary rating, prob more K plus


It was a well known fact that Harry did not celebrate Halloween. Ever since he had learned he was a wizard and found out what this day meant to his family, he had always had this sense of loss and even anger in his early days. The Battle of Hogwarts and, in particular, seeing his loved ones, thanks to the Resurrection Stone, had given him that closure, that knowledge that they were watching over him and seeing the man he had become.

But on the day, he preferred to keep busy, easy to do as an Auror. He usually buried himself in his office, his door firmly shut as he completed a backlog of files and paperwork, and on this particular Halloween, he tried to ignore the fact that he was expected to attend a costume party that night at Ron and George's shop, the theme being famous people, fictional or living.

Ginny had been full of enthusiasm when she'd heard, having a rare three days off. She'd tried to raise his lack of enthusiasm by suggesting couples costumes – Mickey and Minnie Mouse, having just spent a summer holiday at Disneyland. He'd also vetoed Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, although he told her he wasn't averse to seeing her in the infamous gold bikini. She replied by telling him where he could stick a light sabre.

She'd come up with many other alternatives – Barbie and Ken, Buzz and Woody ( he'd opened his mouth to retort to that but she cut him off with just a look), and Sandy and Danny from Grease, although she bemoaned trying to tame his hair into the needed hairstyle of the 50's era.

Then he'd almost choked on his morning porridge when she suggested going as Dumbledore and Macgonagall. With a resigned look, she sent him off to work with a too brief kiss..

Her owl came through before lunch, simply telling him to meet her at WWW, and that, although she would be disappointed, it would be okay for him to not be in costume as he was coming straight from work.

He briefly thought about ducking out in his lunch break to pick a costume up to surprise her but he'd been called to meeting with the head Auror, where lunch had been provided, and then the idea had simply passed.

It was only as he left work and headed for Diagon Alley that he really hoped Ginny wasn't too disappointed he'd chosen not to wear a costume. _Next time...maybe,_ he thought.

He wasn't sure exactly who to expect but when he arrived it seemed apparent that it was for family and staff of WWW and some of the other vendors from Diagon Alley.

He let himself in, waving to Verity who was ladling drinks from a bubbling cauldron. He noted some of the WWW staff looked relieved the working day was over. The shelves looked half empty and judging by George's booming laughter from elsewhere in the room, it had been a successful trading day for pranks.

When he finally saw George, he was dressed as Willy Wonka, why explained why all the employees were dressed as Oompa Loompas.

"Harry, you made it!" greeted George, "and dressed as a future head Auror, no less. Did you try one of Verity's concotions? Gin's had about three," he confided.

"Where is she?" asked Harry, looking around. He saw Bill and Fleur, dressed as characters from an old US television show, I Dream of Jeanie, with little Victoire dressed as Tinkerbell. Audrey and Percy waved hello, dressed as Dorothy and the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz.

"Hey Harry," greeted Angelina, passing him a goblet. She was dressed as Celestina Warbeck.

"Scoring points with the mother-in-law," teased Harry, knowing the Singing Scorceress, as she was known, was Molly Weasley's favourite singer.

"Ha, Molly loves me, I'm giving her another grandchild," replied Angelina, caressing the small bump under her dress.

"You look beautiful," assured Harry, " but speaking of beautiful, have you seen my wife?"

"Oh yeah." Angelina and George shared a smirk. "She's over there, with Ron and Hermione. Best costume by a mile."

"Yeah? Well, I can't wait to see her." They nodded at him as he left them to go in search of Ginny.

He laughed as he passed Lee Jordan, dressed as Elvis Presley. A small group of George's employees and staff from other shops danced while they drank, but thanks to Ron's generous height, he saw him and Hermione in a corner, talking to someone.

He made his way around the dancers, shaking his head no when they encouraged him to join them. He was heading for Ron, Hermione and their friend when they nodded at their friend and both walked away, without seeing him.

He looked around once again for Ginny but there was no sign. He then searched for where Ron and Hermione had gone, his gaze falling back on the man they had been talking with. Something about him seemed very familiar yet he couldn't place him. Just then, the man turned around. Harry gasped as he saw who it was.

It was him. Well, another him. Dressed similarly but not the same.

The Other Harry was looking around at the guests, casually sipping his drink when the two made eye contact. Other Harry grinned and began walking towards him.

"Damn, I swear you were wearing the green jumper this morning," other Harry said, looking ruefully down at his blue jumper. A quick wave of a wand and his jumper changed to green.

Real Harry's jaw dropped. " Ginny?"

She looked up at him. "Hello, love. Give us a kiss, then?" She offered a cheek and waited.

He hesitated; it felt strange contemplating kissing himself. He leaned down slowly, and sure enough, Ginny turned at the last minute, so his lips landed on, well, his own.

He jerked back. "Ew, Ginny, I can't snog myself!"

She chuckled. "What? Take it from me , you're a good snogger. You know you want to find out." She smirked in a way he was positive he had never done before. He did not find it attractive on his face.

She pouted. "Fine. I thought it was a brilliant idea but obviously _you_ left your sense of humour at the office. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to dance."

With that she left him standing there, gaping. She joined Lee and began dancing in a way_ he_ had never done before. Ginny was a good dancer and he had two left feet. But he had to admit, it was kind of funny to see himself dancing like a pro.

George joined Ginny and Lee; Ginny must have said something to him for George turned to look at him, gesturing for him to come join them. Harry shook his head and his brother-in-law shrugged.

"Hey, where did you go, I told you I was coming right back." Ron joined him, a plate of food in his hand.

"Sorry. Hey, did you end up booking that holiday for Hermione for Christmas?" asked Harry. Ron had sought his advice on a present for his wife.

Ron looked at him strangely. "I told you earlier I did, we had a full blown discussion about it, till Hermione joined us. Then the two of you started with your ministry talk."

Merlin, Ginny had completely fooled them. Harry supposed it was funny, after all, who knew him better than Ginny?

"Oh, right, I forgot. Listen, I think I'm going to grab Ginny and go. Will you say hi, I mean, bye, to Hermione for me?"

Ron nodded, looking concerned. Harry however, was already looking for Ginny, who was no longer on the makeshift dance floor.

"Seen Ginny?" he yelled at Angelina, as the music became louder. She giggled and nodded, pointing to the back of the shop.

"No-one even knew it wasn't you," she giggled. "She nailed you!"

Harry smiled wryly and waved goodbye to her, then George and Lee. He walked to the back of the shop when a hand reached out and pulled him into the WWW broom closet.

He looked at his own face yet again. "Quick," she ordered, "snog me before I change back."

"I can't," he told her, leaning his forehead against hers. "I just can't."

She grabbed the front of his jumper. "Live dangerously, Potter," she whispered, before snogging the daylights out of him.

She was the one to release him, as the polyjuice potion wore off. In only a minute, she had completely changed back, and his jeans fell off her hips to her knees.

"Much better," he told her, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her the way he loved to do.

"Ready to go home?" she asked, when they finally broke apart to breathe.

"Definitely," he replied. " Allow me." With his arms around her, he Apparated them home.

She laughed. "We lost your jeans somewhere."

"You won't be needing them," he told her, manouvering her to the bedroom.

"It was kind of interesting having a willy, for awhile," she told him.

He grimaced. "I hope you didn't have_ too _much fun with it, without me."

"You know, I _do_ have some polyjuice potion left over. Enough for us each to have some together...if you want to..." her words drifted off but her eyes were wide with meaning.

Her fingers twirled through her hair and she plucked a strand out, holding it out for him.

"What do you say, Potter? Trick...or treat?"

Harry was definitely up for the challenge.


End file.
